There’s a brand new race coming up this weekend with IRONMAN 70.3 Northern California.
When the M-Dot brand announced the event last year, which is based in scenic Redding, there were one or two eyebrows raised in terms of the scheduling given that August temperatures regularly head past the 40 degrees Celsius mark.
Indeed it was 41 degrees on Monday this week but thankfully things are forecast to cool down a little for the weekend.
We’ve got some great potential storylines for the first edition too, not least the return from injury of popular Canadian Lionel Sanders.
Start times and how to watch live
IRONMAN 70.3 Northern California will take place on Sunday 16 August.
The men’s professional race begins at 06:15 local time. That corresponds to 09:15 Eastern, 14:15 in the UK and 15:15 Central European Summer Time.
The pro women set off 10 minutes later.
This isn’t an IRONMAN Pro Series race so there’s no live broadcast but the invaluable IRONMAN Tracker app will keep you up to date with the action, for pros and age-groupers alike.
Men’s race
There are obviously no defending champions but it’s Sam Long (USA) in the #1 bib on Sunday.
The Big Unit has been a real force in exactly these sorts of races – his whole 2026 schedule to date has been in North America – and he comes here on the back of what he labelled one of his best-ever performances as he ran out an impressive winner at 70.3 Boise.
His great friend and rival Lionel Sanders returns from injury for what will be his first race since April. Given which there’s likely to be some ring rust but in his last four 70.3s he’s won three of them and was second in the other.
His fellow Canadian Jackson Laundry also lines up but the three mentioned so far are all likely to lose plenty of ground on the swim so American duo Jason West and Jeremy Maclean could be two to force the pace in the first half of the race and look the biggest threats from what is a 37-strong field.
Women’s race
Grace Thek (AUS) heads the field – she’s had a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth from her five races so far in 2026 – could this be the elusive win?
Her namesake Grace Alexander (USA) is arguably the favourite having already notched impressive back-to-back victories at 70.3 Gulf Coast and 70.3 Chattanooga in May.
Rebecca Clarke (NZL) was slated to start IRONMAN Kalmar this weekend in a last-ditch attempt to book her Kona slot but she instead lines up here and looks another major contender.
Course details
The race is centred around the Sacramento River and starts with a 1.2-mile one lap swim in the tranquil waters of Whiskeytown Lake.
The bike course is described as “rolling” but is likely to be seriously fast with the 56 miles winding through scenic Shasta County on smooth roads with a near 1000-foot net elevation loss. Another bike record incoming for Sam Long?
The 13.1-mile run course crosses the iconic Sundial Bridge and loops through the recently revitalised riverfront parks before finishing near the heart of Redding’s vibrant downtown
What’s on the line?
The prize purse for this race is $40,000, split equally between the women’s and the men’s races. The top eight from each field receive prize money.
1st: $5,500
2nd: $4,000
3rd: $3,000
4th: $2,000
5th: $1,750
6th: $1,500
7th: $1,250
8th: $1,000
There are also two qualifying slots per gender up for grabs for next year’s IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
